Protesters occupy Datteln 4 coal plant, as survey finds most Germans oppose it

Environmental activists occupied part of the new Datteln 4 coal plant for several hours on Tuesday before being removed by police, Zeit Online reports. It was the second demonstration against the plant this month, after about 100 protesters occupied the site on February 2. The coal-fired power plant is scheduled to come online this summer, despite Germany’s plans to phase out all coal power by 2038. The federal government and the state government in North-Rhine Westphalia argue that the plant, which has been in the works for more than a decade, will replace older, less efficient coal plants and ultimately reduce carbon emissions. But environmentalists say it makes no sense to bring a brand new source of coal power online when Germany is already struggling to meet its climate targets. "We demand an immediate coal exit," the activists said in a statement reported by Der Spiegel. "The commissioning of a new power plant at this time is a scandal."

Meanwhile, Greenpeace released a survey finding that a majority of Germans oppose the Datteln 4 plant. The survey of more than a thousand people, conducted by the research group Kantar, found that 68 percent generally oppose bringing a new coal-fired plant online.